The Death of D'Vorah
by DamiChr1s
Summary: It's exactly what you think it is. This takes place before Of Predator's & Prey. Precisely 3 days after the end of the Game.


Solitude. That beautiful word, eternally sought but infinitely unattainable. D'Vorah had always sought solitude. For the entirety of her existence she had sought only to be alone. The wanted to know what it was like to not hear the buzzing. It was only now, as she was marched in chains to her death that she realized how idiotic she had been. She was a hive, more accurately she was the queen of a hive, and within her being thousands lived, worked and died. She was an eco-system all on her own.

As one among many, there was no way for her to ever be truly alone. And yet she continued to search for what could never be found. She'd been so desperate to find her peace, she'd sold her soul to the Lord of Demons. The fallen Elder God of death, Shinnok, had sent his second in command Quan Chi to recruit a Kytinn Elder for his eventual return. The Sorcerer had told D'Vorah, then Commander in Chief of the Kytinn Military, of the beliefs of the Brotherhood of Shadows.

Shinnok's ultimate goal was to rule the universe and take revenge on the Elder Gods. As the ruler of the Netherealm and the dead, this could only be achieved if everything in the universe died. Those who served Shinnok would live on after death, rewarded with power and immortality.

D'Vorah had pictured it and felt the greatest happiness she believed any being in any realm could be capable of. Arnyek, her island realm, her home, all to herself, no other Kytinn alive to bother her. Just her… alone. After Shao Kahn had invaded her realm she'd had to act fast, the other elders were too busy arguing to formulate a defense. She'd thrown herself at her conqueror's feet and proclaimed him her new master.

In return for this perceived obedience she'd been made his lieutenant. She met Quan Chi again, learning that he had inserted himself into the Kahn's court as his liaison with the Netherealm. A new set of orders had been delivered to her, to stay close to the Kahn and undermine his rule in any way possible. She'd done just that. His death had not stopped her fulfilling her duty, she could have escaped, but she remained by the side of his deranged temptress of a false daughter after his death. She'd served Mileena in the same way as she'd done her father, doing her absolute best to run her into the ground.

When Kotal and Syzoth had come to her, asking her to join their coup against the unworthy Kahn, she'd had to hold back an ear to ear grin. She'd been aiding them from the shadows from the very inception of their schemes, the rest of Mileena's court had been too thick headed to see the Osh-Tekk's obvious plot. In all honesty she'd been considering killing that abomination herself and taking the throne.

She'd agreed to join them. The Zaterran had informed her of a secret he knew about the Kahn, something that would completely topple her rule. She'd been intrigued, but learning of Mileena's true nature hadn't been surprising, not really. She couldn't be Shao Kahn's daughter, she lacked his weight, his sheer power. When Shao Kahn entered a room it could be felt, a raw power that you could feel in your bones. D'Vorah highly doubted there were many beings in this or any other universe that did not fear encoring his wrath.

By contrast Mileena just seemed like a greedy child. Eternally longing for the power and status the seat of Kahnum would bring her, but wanting nothing to do with the responsibilities of being a leader. In retrospect D'Vorah had barely done anything to undermine Mileena's rule; she'd done more than enough of that by herself.

And by even further contrast Kotal lacked the one quality the father and daughter shared. Their fire, that small but constant blaze of never ending ambition in their eyes. Conquest had been all Shao Kahn ever wanted; he would rather conquer another realm than rule the empire he already had. That responsibility had fallen to the likes of Kotal and Reiko for generations. Kotal was a leader, a soldier, but he was also a diplomat. A man who understood how to lead a nation, how to lead an _empire_. He would make compromises; make concessions, for the sake of his people. Shao Kahn had been the God of war, of power and conquest to his people. A symbol of the inexorable forward march of Outworld towards dominion over all the realms. But he'd never truly been anything but a figure head, to preoccupied with his delusions of grandeur and his lust for power to understand the scope of what he already controlled. Of the millions of lives he held sway over. Kotal was his people's _lord_ and _ruler_ , the symbol of Outworld's strength and sovereignty against all odds, and of its power as one, united realm. He had what Mileena and Shao Kahn never had and would never have… the people. The people that as D'Vorah was forced to her knees cheered for her death.

The Emperor stood over her, clutching his Blood Magik Dagger. _"You D'Vorah, my former First Minister, are hereby charged with: Treason against the Kahnum. Multiple violations of the Reiko Accords. Aiding and abetting the banished Elder God, Shinnok. Damaging relations with Earthrealm. Attempted murder of multiple Earthrealm defenders. And endangering the realm and the people whom you swore complete allegiance to_. _How do you plead?"_

D'Vorah didn't even consider groveling. She looked up at the blue skinned Emperor. D'Vorah looked into the Emperor's eyes and a hidden message passed between them. D'Vorah respected strength as much as Kotal did and the simple fact was that they respected each other, they always had. Her betrayal had not changed that. If they were alone D'Vorah would have died quietly and with no protest. But they weren't alone. Kotal was testing her; he wanted to see if her strength held up in her final moments, in front of a crowd chanting for her blood. Besides, there were most likely agents of the Brotherhood of Shadow in the crowd, or whatever was left of it. If she died without proclaiming the glory of their fallen deity, the thought of what they could do to her _after_ her death chilled her spine. They both acknowledged the message: _You're right_.

" _You are a pathetic fool!"_ She shouted with all her might, enough to quiet the murderous masses. _"For generations this one has lived under the pretense of serving the Kahnum, and for all those generations this one has served the one true savior of this universe. Shinnok! This one deceived Shao Kahn and this one deceived his daughter. Deceiving you was too easy! For years this one was your closest advisor, your closest confidant! This one knows all your secrets! This one has seen you, behind the walls of your palace. This one has seen your weakness, the fear you feel. It's palpable; you're a miserable wretch whose very presence insults us! You do not deserve to kill us; neither do any of your dogs! You all stink of weakness!"_ She hurled a glob of acidic green spit into the Kahn's face, it burned out and he didn't even seem to register it. His eyes stayed glued to hers.

" _Your words have sealed your fate D'Vorah."_ Said Kotal, rather gravely. His deep baritone voice was almost… soothing. He gestured to a man dressed like a cowboy _. "Erron Black, the gift from General Blade."_ The gunslinger walked onto the stage and handed his Emperor a black cylinder with a silver pin in the top, inscribed on it in yellow paint were the words: _PEST CONTROL. "Stand her up!"_ Ordered the Emperor. A pair of lower Osh-Tekk guards did just that, each one holding onto one of the Kytinn's arms, just to make sure she tried nothing. D'Vorah straightened up and readied herself.

Without another word Kotal plunged the dagger into the extreme left of her chest. D'Vorah did not cry out as the white hot pain engulfed her body, she would not falter, not even in death. He moved the blade across her chest, cutting through the bone and opening up a deep gash. The pain was becoming unbearable, tears threatened to break down the walls of her eyes but she held strong. He pulled the blade from her slit open chest, sheathed his dagger and then plunged his hand into her body. Much of the audience gasped, having rarely witnessed an execution so brutal.

D'Vorah was caught mid breath. Her heart stopping as a hand clenched it and tore it out of her, teal blood spraying in all directions. The guards let go of her, she was going nowhere fast. She stumbled around; she wasn't feeling anymore pain, no. It was the absence of feeling, the numbness rapidly overwhelming her. She watched with horror unimaginable as her Emperor raised the heart above his head, crushed it, squeezing out her blood into a stream and chugging it down. After a few gulps he threw down the pulpy mess and advanced towards the now fallen D'Vorah. Twitching on the ground, dead. But the insects that called her home and her larvae were still alive. Not knowing what to do as their queen, their mother, their lifeline collapsed and died around them. Using his thumb, Kotal Kahn removed the pin from the grenade and shoved into D'Vorah's chest through the cut he had already made. Yellow smoke began emanating from the wound as the corpse went berserk. Her ovipositors extended out and stabbed in random directions, her body began to convulse and spasm. _"Insecticide"_ General Blade had called it, whatever it was; it was destroying the residents of the traitor's body. Steadily the convulsions died down as yellow smoke began to emanate from her ears and mouth as well and then there was stillness.

The silence of the crowd was broken by a chorus of cheers and screams of happiness. The traitor was dead and their Kahn had showed his resolve by executing her himself. The Emperor nodded towards the cowboy once again, he kicked the body of the stage. The crowd immediately seized upon the corpse, tearing it apart, carting of limbs and bits of clothing as trophies. By the time they were done the sand of the courtyard had turned blue with blood and bits of flesh and intestine were smeared everywhere.

The silence that lives in Death's Shadow settled over the scene. One of the guards who'd held D'Vorah's arms in her final moments walked over to the cowboy. _"Should we clean this up Councilman Black?"_. The cowboy turned to the guard; his piercing, eternally suspicious blue eyes deeply scared him. _"I'll handle it,"_ he said putting his forefinger and thumb at the edges of his mouth. He whistled and the shadow moved on as the squawking of dozens of crows drowned out the guard's thoughts. They were a dark all consuming hood being pulled over the land, blotting out the sun for a brief moment.

They seized upon what little was left of the Kytinn, happily chirping as they scooped up and swallowed up entrails like dead blue worms. Erron let out a sigh of disappointment. Struggling to keep down the BladeTooth-Cat meat his wife had made for him the Guard said, _"What is it Councilman?"_ Erron shrugged, _"I was hoping she'd be alive for this part."_

With that he walked off.


End file.
